


Foxy Tales

by fluffyhojo



Series: Fantastic (Beasts) Drabbles And Where To Hoard Them. [5]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Childhood Memories, Fluff, Fox!Newt Scamander, Gen, M/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-13 18:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,303
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14754116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fluffyhojo/pseuds/fluffyhojo
Summary: The friendship between a fox and the Graves.





	1. Foxy Tale

**Author's Note:**

> I got this idea in a shower..... and it kind of expanded while typing it up in the Gramander chat.
> 
> Not beta-read, except for by me.

# Foxy Tale

There has always been this fox in the forests behind the Graves mansion, since Percival was very little. He always knew it was the same, because it had this scar across it's muzzle and a ripped ear. It could either be seen drinking from the pond or lazing around in the lush greens of the garden. 

Sometimes it would chase garden gnomes around or carry a Niffler in its muzzle, but never once has Percival seen it hurt any of the other creatures. When he ran outside to see it more closely, it would have vanished before he made it there. 

He had told his parents about it, but they would just shake their heads and say he should let it be. When he went pouting (though he would never admit that) to his grandfather and tell him about what he had seen, the old man would laugh and tell him a story about this fox his great great grandfather once saved from a trap. 

His own grandfather had often told him how the fox had been described with a scar on its muzzle and a ripped ear. Percival would look confused and unbelieving, because that would mean the fox was more than a few hundred years old!

"Yes my boy." 

Would his grandfather say with an amused smile, fluffing up his hair, which he protested loudly and continue with his story. 

Their ancestor helped the fox in its healing after he rescued it from the poacher trap. While he had helped it through the injuries, he would often tell it about how the garden gnomes were ruining his wife's carefully planted herbs. He had always thought the fox was listening intently, ears always in his direction when he spoke. Maybe it was just that his voice was soothing, or just to make sure it would not be surprised should their ancestor still attack. 

When the fox was fully healed, it vanished into the forest, tail swishing. Their ancestor had watched with a smile and turned back into the manor. 

That night though, they were startled awake because of a loud commotion outside their house. He had told his wife to stay put, took his wand and went to the window to see what was happening. What he saw was not something he had expected.

There, outside in the garden, was the red fox chasing around garden gnomes. When it caught one in its muzzle, it would run around in circles and then throw it away in a high bow. Usually the gnomes would stumble confusedly deeper into the forest. 

His wife didn't have problems with the gnomes for many months and when they returned, the fox would be there waiting. It happened again and again and not only with gnomes, but with Nifflers and other creatures too. 

It happened every time their ancestor had complained about them.... either to his wife or sometimes even to the fox itself, after he noticed it lounging in their garden a few times. 

When he had children, he would call the little fox their guardian with a laugh and tell them to never hurt it.

The story about the fox would be told even after their ancestor had died, because it was often believed to be seen behind the house. It wouldn't always stay for long, sometimes even look sadly in the direction of the house until it vanished again. Its visits would become rarer over time, but every time a creature was causing havoc, it would return and take care of it before any creature or human could get hurt. 

Percival was still a bit unbelieving, but was listening intensely anyway, because that story was so very interesting for his young mind. 

_His parents never ever told him about the story after all!_

And his grandfather would smile sadly and tell him that they didn't believe in it.

Percival would see the fox a lot after that, which had absolutely nothing to do with how he would just wait for it to appear so he could watch it. It certainly looked like the fox of the tale, all fluffy fur and the mentioned scars, but then again his grandfather could have made this all up from the beginning. 

One time he had managed to sneak after the fox with a Niffler in its muzzle, deep into the dark forest, where the fox had sat it down and then almost looked like it was scolding the little thief. It certainly looked like they were discussing things, before the Niffler would make a rude gesture and vanish further into the forest.

The fox watched the creature go with something that looked like a head shake, before golden-greenish eyes looked right in the direction Percival was hiding in. The boy was so surprised, he stumbled backwards with a startled cry. When he looked up again the fox had vanished. He pouted and turned around, keen on getting back to the house before his parents found out about his adventure. But sadly he found out that he had no idea where he was, since he only had eyes for the fox and the Niffler on his way out here. 

He was scared when he turned around and around and everything looked the same.

When he braced himself to choose a direction he would try going, he heard a noise from the right. He was surprised that when he turned, he saw the fox standing there staring at him. It made the noise again and then turned around to go a few steps in that direction, stopping and looking back when Percival wasn't following right away. Looking in the direction he had intended to go for a moment, which suddenly looked ominous, Percival shuddered and started following the fox. It was always running a few steps and than make sure Percy was still there. 

That's how Percy managed to get back to the manor, to his utter relief. When he turned around to thank the fox, it had vanished again. Dismayed, Percy returned to bed.

But it had been a start to a wonderful friendship.

When Percy started going to school, he would always return with stories for the fox, who could be seen lazing around more often again, listening to the slowly growing childs tales. 

The day Percy's grandfather died, had the now teen devastated in the garden, with the fox curled beside him and letting itself be patted.

Even when Percy finished school and went to auror training, he would visit the Graves manor and talk to the fox, because it had always been his closest confidant. He would keep a schedule to always visit the manor at least once a month if not more, the fox always knowing when he returned and waiting for him. That routine stayed the whole time, even when he was suddenly the director of security for MACUSA.

\---

 

But then the visits suddenly stopped and the fox would wait and wait and wait some more. One month went by without a visit of his human friend.... than another and another... 

The fox would wait and still not see his friend for three months in a row. He would get worried, because he knew down in his heart, that this one has not yet perished. He always knew when one of the Graves died, since the years a nice ancestor had saved his life.

That's how he had started his journey to find his dear friend. 

In the end he had turned up in New York. A tall male with reddish hair, a scar on his nose and freckles all over. Usually he avoided the populace like that. The town making him uncomfortable, but he still wanted to know what happened to his friend.

With his good nose and a little Niffler and other creatures in tow (stored away in a well used suitcase), he found someone who _looked_ like his friend, but absolutely didn't _feel_ OR _smell_ like it. 

A big chase happened around town and he managed to expose the imposter before his friends supposed co-workers. 

When it was clear they had a good grip on the ugly smelling pineapple, the fox went to search for the real Percival, the Obscurial boy helping, when he had explained what had actually happened. Together with the help of a lot of creatures, they found the real Percival Graves. 

Not well, but alive. 

This time it was the fox that helped a Graves survive and heal.

When Percival awoke, feeling good and safe, the way he only felt when his fox was around, got the surprise of his life when a pretty young man, with a scar above his nose and a slightly damaged ear (that was mostly hidden behind red curls), threw himself at him in happiness.

Percival was still a bit dazed, but not doing anything about the hug, when he said: 

"Fox?"

Pretty golden-greenish eyes looked at him, with tears in them, but a happy smile on the man's lips. 

"Yes! But you can call me Newt."


	2. A Prequel of sorts.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The life before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my beta Physalis for correcting all these horrible mistakes, that I just didn't see anymore XD 
> 
> Have the start of the tale. If inspirations strikes, I may make a series of mini-fics out of this one!
> 
> This has loooots of time jumps! You have been warned ;)

# A prequel of sorts

Newt had been just a young fox when it happened. He hadn’t seen the trap in the underbrush in time, walking right into it and yowling when his foot got stuck. The fox had tried to free himself, thrashing around. It hadn’t been a good idea, worsening his wound, his strength leaving him after a while. It didn’t help that it had been a very warm day and that the sun was shining relentlessly, furthering his fatigue and thirst the longer he was caught in the trap. 

He had even been on his way to the pond in that pretty garden he had found. 

Every now and then he would try opening the trap again, each try being less successful than the last. At some point he couldn’t even lift his head anymore, his snout bloody from the cut he had gotten over his nose and from his bloody gums, from when he had tried to bite at the trap. His leg hung broken and damaged. 

The situation looked dreadful for him, slowly the thirst was turning into dehydration under the heat of the weather, the blood loss was becoming an issue as well. But since he had now pretty much given up and stopped struggling, his leg wound had started to clog up. Drying and slowly stopping the blood loss, thanks to the warm weather. 

It didn’t change that he had grown weaker over time, head lying devastated on the ground. Newt had already slowly started to give up, not believing to survive this whole mess. Especially when his ears twitched at a broken branch. It had sounded as if someone or something had stepped on it. If it was a bigger, meat-eating forest creature, then he was sure to perish soon.

His eyes opened only partly, hoping to at least see what would be the death of him. 

“Oh dear…”

The fox’ body trembled, when a large, warm hand touched his shoulder, his breath stuttered and eyes fluttered open again. He hadn’t even noticed them closing!

“Thank Merlin you’re still alive, little one.”

The voice was of a rough sort, but it was gently spoken.

“Here, let me help you… there should be no traps in this part of the forest. I’ll have to send the house elves for a clean-up and then see how these came to be here in the first place.”

The men kept talking gently to Newt, the fox watching with scared but interested eyes when he pulled out what looked like a stick and pointed it at the trap. It startled Newt, when it disintegrated, not leaving even a small part behind. The fox would have cheered with joy, if he still had had that much strength left. 

Instead he used what little energy he had left to try and get up. It didn’t work out at all, his muscles not moving an inch. 

He whined in distress, his voice sounding weak. 

The hand returned, petting his head soothingly. The voice making comforting noises, in the hope of calming him down again. 

“Don’t worry little one.”

Dismayed Newt watched as the stick moved over his body, still thinking he might be killed after all, but instead of being able to fight, he sagged to the ground. Whimpering noises leaving his mouth, his breath erratic. 

“Oh dear. That leg is very much broken, but I’ll be sure to fix you up completely.”

Newt made a another distressed noise when he was suddenly lifted into the air, feet moving in hopes of getting ground under himself again. He stopped when it jarred his injured leg and sank powerless into the strong grip of magic. 

“I’m sorry, I should have warned you. Maybe you want to go to sleep? It will be better for you.”

_A wave of something warm moved through the fox’ body and in another moment he knew no more._

\---

Newt awoke way later, lying on a comfy pillow with his hind leg restricted in a cast. He moved his head, actually feeling better than before. A dish full of water was set near his sleeping place and he felt like he actually had enough strength to drink from it, which he gratefully did after smelling it. 

What he didn’t know was that he had gotten medical treatment for his wounds and potions had been spelled into his system for better blood production. The man hadn’t wanted to overuse magical potions however, not knowing how they would work in an animal. This was the reason his leg was actually put in a cast instead of just healed with magic. 

Not that Newt was actually thinking about that, since he didn’t know either way. What he knew though was, that the water tasted delicious to his parched throat and that the dish sitting beside it smelled inviting too. 

He looked around himself, making sure no one was looking, before actually digging in. 

While he enjoyed his meal, the man that had saved him arrived, stood by the door and smiled slightly. The fox must have been horrible hungry and thirsty if he ate with such a voracious appetite. He waited to address the animal until after it was finished. 

“Oh my, how long have you been trapped out there?”

It was pretty much a rhetorical questions, not expecting and answer, but it caused the fox to squeak in surprise and hide below the pillow, only its snout and behind looking out from under it. It startled a laugh out of the man. 

“I’m sorry. I seem to surprise you all the time.”

The snout moved slowly out from under the pillow, until two golden-greenish eyes could look up at him and then the fox made an actual huffing sound. As if he wanted to tell him he was such a git.

He smiled. 

“My name is Gondolphus Graves. Nice to meet you.”

The fox huffed again. At least it seemed like it understood it was in no danger from him, because it slowly moved out from under the pillow completely, just to plop down on it again, injured leg stretched away from himself. 

_This encounter was the start of a beautiful friendship._

\---

Gondolphus often found himself near the fox, since it had turned out to be a good listener, not that the fox could move around all that much with its injuries, but still it would have its ears lifted and listened.

“My wife is complaining about the garden gnomes again.”

He sighed, looking out into the garden, from the terrace behind the house. It looked normal enough to him, but his wife had been going on and on about these gnomes. How they were ruining her hard work at the herb garden. 

The fox huffed staring almost longingly out into the forest right behind the garden. Graves smiled slightly and moved his hand soothingly over his companions head. 

“No need to worry, you’ll be out and about in no time. I’m sure.”

_After that he watched the fox looking outside into the garden every now and then, as if it was waiting for something._

\---

He returned home after a long week at work, kissed his wife hello and sorry and went in search of his little furry friend. Gondolphus frowned when he didn’t see him napping in his usual place. This was odd, the pillow wasn’t to be found either. Did his wife let the fox out into the forest? Thinking he was healed already?

No. She wouldn’t have done that, since the leg had still been a bit wobbly and she had befriended the fox as well. 

Worried, he searched for his friend throughout the manor, until he went into the bedroom to see the door of the walk-in-closet slightly opened and clothes peeking out from inside it. When he went investigating if his wife just hadn’t known what to wear (and left in a hurry), wanting to close the door at least, he made a surprising and cute discovery.

There, in his brown suitcase, which had been hidden behind the clothes before, lay the fox all curled up as best as it could with its still slightly sore leg. Some of his clothes could be seen under the furball, its nose hidden below one of the shirts, as well as the pillow it had claimed as its own. 

Gondolphus smiled.

It looked like not only his wife had missed him, while he was away for so long. 

“Guess I’ll have to make it up to you too.”

He whispered and then left, letting the animal rest some more. It couldn’t have been easy for it to move up the stairs with the pillow in its muzzle, when the wobbly leg would give out every now and then.

_He ended up having to bribe the fox with the best of meat, thorough snuggling and the brown suitcase as a makeshift bed._

\---

Another time, the two of them would be sitting on the terrace again, staring out at the forest. The fox with its head in Gondolphus’ lap, making a sound almost like a cat’s purr while a hand moved soothingly over its fur. 

“You know… It’s nice having you around.”

The fox opened an eye lazily and looked up.

“We wish to have children, but for some reason it still hasn’t worked.”, whispered Gondolphus thoughtfully.

He had been worried about that. He really loved his wife, but he feared he might be useless at giving her children. They had tried many times and he could see that his wife was struggling with it. They were still young, but would not stay like this forever. He really hoped for a child to continue their legacy and he didn’t want to lose his wife to another who could give her what she wanted. 

The fox moved its head and licked his hand, startling him out of the dark thoughts. He smiled down at his furry friend, who seemed to be looking at him quizzically. 

“It’s alright. I’m sure we’ll manage… and maybe you’ll even get to meet them.”

He looked up to watch the garden and the forest again, not noticing the fox staring at him some more, before it lied its head back down.

_That night, the fox visited the sleeping couple, golden-green eyes watching them sleeping in each others arms with a smile on their faces. Maybe it was the moon shining into the partly opened curtains, maybe not, but for a moment it looked like its eyes glowed._

\---

When it was finally time to say goodbye to his furry friend, Gondolphus almost felt sad. He would miss the little rascal. Since the moment he had been able to move around a bit again, he caused quite a bit of havoc. 

Not that all of the things could have been done by the fox, but Graves could have sworn it looked extra smug from now and then after such occurrences. Really, most of the time these things happened when he had been working too much, even at home. He was pretty sure his wife had set the fox on him, to get him to stop working, or maybe it was the fox itself.

Sometimes he even would admit to himself that he needed this kind of breaks.  
It was especially easy to own up to that fact when he was chasing the fox, forgetting for a moment everything else around him. He certainly felt better and more concentrated after. Maybe because his wife got a hold of him then and fed him. 

Now however it was time for the fox to return to the forest. He had already caught it looking in that direction a lot, always wishful as if it was missing something. The leg was completely healed now, as well as any other wounds it had gotten at the time. The incident left the fox with a scar on its leg as well as on its muzzle. Gondolphus didn’t know what happened to the ear, but that rip had been there before. 

When he searched for his little friend that day, he found it staring longingly into the forest again and it brought a sad smile on his lips.

“You miss the forest huh?”

The fox startled - sometimes he worried that it might be too inattentive to survive in the wild - and turned around to look at him. It yapped, tail swishing over the ground. 

“You know, you could have left before. Your leg has been healed for a while now. Why haven’t you?”

A cocked head was Gondolphus’ answer as well as another of these high-pitched foxy noises. It almost looked like it smiled. With a jump it was at his feet and danced around him. He laughed and leaned down to pet the animal. 

“What is it with you? You look so delighted! Ready to go back to the forest?”

The thought hurt him surprisingly, but he let it be, because the forest was still the fox’ natural habitat. He was pretty sure it didn’t want to stay a substitute for the children that should have populated the empty house forever. 

Another of those foxy barks let him look up from his furry friend and he was surprised to see another fox in the distance. It stared at him, almost suspiciously and then barked again. The fox at his feet answered, the sound so happy, Gondolphus glanced down in wonder. 

He hadn’t seen his fox this lively since he met him. And it had arguably been very lively when it had gotten better and had seemed to take a shine to him. 

“Oh. Is that someone you know?” 

The fox gave him the biggest grin it could manage and he was hit by a huge amount of relief. If it had someone out there, maybe it would survive after all. 

He bend down and hugged the animal.

“I’ll miss you. Please take care.”

As answer he got a happy lick all over his face, making him laugh. Then Gondolphus let the fox go and watched it run over to the other one. It possibly looked older and he could only smile when the darker colored fox seemed to make sure its little one was alright. Sniffing it, looking for injuries and licking right over the scar at the smaller ones snout . 

His fox snuggled back in a hello and in the next moment, both of them ran away. 

And all Gondolphus could do was watch and smile and maybe feel a little bit lonely. 

_That night he got the surprise of his life. His wife told him with a broad smile that she was pregnant! He laughed and scooped her up at that and they danced around the house. In the distance he believed to hear the happy yapping of a fox._

\---

To his surprise, that hadn’t been the end of seeing his fox friend. Instead he saw it again and again. Shortly after it had left with its friend, it had returned to free the garden from the garden gnomes. His wife was happy and surprised as well, even though it had happened in the middle of the night and she had a rough day with morning sickness. 

_The garden was free for many months and when the creatures dared to return, the fox was there waiting for them._

\---

One day Gondolphus saw it when a Niffler was once again wreaking havoc in his priced shiny things. The fox had caught it and taken it away. He never saw it hurting the other creature, but the next morning everything had been returned to where it belonged. 

He had seen the fox look smug, while the Niffler looked all downtrodden sitting beside it, as if it was made to apologize but didn’t really want to. Gondolphus left the little thief a shiny coin as thanks for returning everything. It made the Niffler perk up right away, stuffing the coin away and running back into the forest as fast as its little feet could carry it.

_All the while the fox had looked pleased._

\---

When his firstborn son came into the world, he had been overjoyed. He was the beautiful child, to his wonderful wife. But then he had been careless and would have lost him on the same day, had the fox not appeared to warn him about the intruders on his land. Thanks to the fox though, he had had enough time to ward his wife and the healer in their bedroom and call for reinforcements. 

Together with the help, they took down all the dark wizards trying to get rid of one of the original twelve. A member of the first twelve Aurors for the Magical Congress of the United States of America. 

_The fox had been seen tripping and surprising the mean-spirited intruders, making them all that much easier to capture._

\---

Many times more things like this would happen. Or the fox just visited its human friend, other times it could be seen watching the children play in the garden and grow up to be adults. 

Gondolphus taught his children that the fox was their guardian and to never hurt it. They loved listening to all the tales their father would tell them about the friendly creature. 

_And later still, he would gladly retell this very same tales to his grand- and grand-grand-children._

\---

When Graves, now a very old man, was lying on his deathbed, he got visited by the fox again. He didn’t know how it had gotten into the room, since it was up on the first floor, but in one blink of an eye (maybe he had fallen asleep again) the fox was sitting in the chair beside his bed.

“Oh… hello there little one.”

He smiled serenely. 

“It’s astounding how, even after all these years, you are still looking just as young as you have been when you were caught in that trap. Sometimes I wonder…..”

He stopped, staring up at the ceiling, breathing slowly. He lost his line of thoughts, looking blankly up at the dark wood. 

A questioning noise from the direction of the chair made him look back over. 

“Oh… sometimes I wonder if you’re even real.”

He paused again. His wife had already left him when she died some years back and now he was sure to follow her soon. 

“I wanted to thank you for everything you have done for me and my family.”

His eyes closed, but he still continued smiling.

“Sometimes I wonder if it is thanks to you that I have so many amazing children and grandchildren. You have been with me for so long now… I’m sure your debt to me is long paid.”

“It’s not a debt. It’s friendship.”

Gondolphus startled and looked back to the chair, where a young man was sitting instead of the fox that had been there just moments ago. Reddish hair was hiding one pretty golden-greenish eye, while he could see tears flowing down both cheeks. The young man sniffled and lifted his hands to wipe away the tears.Gondolphus didn’t call for anyone, still feeling the same safety than he always had with the fox around. 

“I’m sorry.”

The fox said, still wiping away tears. 

Gondolphus couldn’t help but lift his hand and touch the young man's cheek with his own hand. 

“Why are you crying little one? I had a wonderful life, thanks to you and your help.”

The fox hiccuped, but still tried to stop its tears, leaning into the wrinkled hand of its friend. 

“I’m glad I was able to see you, before you must go.” 

It was said with a sad smile, but a smile nonetheless. 

“My brother taught me how to change, but I fear it took me quite a while to learn, for some reason...” 

The young man sounded almost embarrassed while saying that, cheeks turning red and Graves couldn’t help but laugh. The fox might not have known why it took it so long, but he had an inkling that not spending much time with its brother might have something to do with it. Still, now he knew the other fox was the brother of this one. It was good to know his friend had some family left, since it didn’t sound as if the other fox had left this world yet. 

“I’m still glad you managed it, because that means you can finally answer a question I’ve longed to know the answer to for so long.”

The fox looked curiously at him, tilting its head but still holding its friend’s hand to its cheek. 

“What is your name little one?”

And the fox smiled brightly, as if it was all too happy to finally tell him. 

“It’s Newt!”

_In the end, they talked as much as was possible, before the inevitable happened. Newt would tell him about his brother, about what he did with the Niffler (befriended it and many more creatures) and everything else he could think of. It was almost like the young man returned the favour Gondolphus had done the fox, when he told him tales. It soothed the old man into a peaceful sleep. The last words he heard were:_

_“I’ll protect your descendants as best as I can, I promise you that. Sleep well, my friend.”_

\---

Many years went by and Newt did what he promised to his friend. Not all of his descendants actually believed in their guardian, or were always nice to him, but he still wouldn’t break his promise. His brother has called him stupid for many, many years now. 

Fearing for his little brother and the attachment he had formed with the family. 

Newt never thought it stupid. He wouldn’t have been alive without Gondolphus Graves help and therefore, he would make sure the man’s children and grandchildren and everyone else in that family would be as safe as he could make them. He was only one little fox spirit after all. 

He didn’t find it stupid either, when one boy especially actually became friends with him. Maybe Newt shouldn’t have become as close to him as he did, he hadn’t done so since Gondolphus, but it had felt natural. It had felt right. 

Percival Graves was an intriguing child and so much like his ancestor. It almost felt like Gondolphus was back again. 

The fox didn’t only see his old friend in the child, he saw a wonderful person made for great things. A boy meant to do good. Maybe he had thought of Gondolphus at first, but it became clear that the boy was a person on his own. 

After decades of descendants, Percival Graves was the first one Newt made a connection with again. 

_And he would make sure to keep that child safe!_


End file.
